One kid had pulled his beanie on so tight it was almost covering his eyes.
Plenty more figured it was cold enough to warrant playing in a hoodie. A few decided they better put their playing jumpers on over the top so their teammates could still pick them out in a game between two Belconnen junior teams. Another pulled a hoodie over the top - unzipped, of course, so you could still see the Ainslie Tricolours jersey partly hidden underneath.
Mums and dads lined the Holt Oval boundary lines with camp chairs, puffer jackets and umbrellas on a Canberra day so cold, wet and windy, it was clear winter was merely hours away.
Then there were the kids, who just didn't care. The kids who pulled on sleeveless jerseys and chased footballs around a muddy field because they want to be the next Nick Daicos, Marcus Bontempelli, Charlie Curnow or Luke Jackson.
Maybe some wanted to be like GWS Giants star Tom Green, or even Jack Steele who, some time ago now, was running around these same fields as a Belconnen junior before forging a lengthy AFL career with St Kilda and Melbourne.
These are the eight-year-old kids who spend all week waiting for their next kick or handball as part of the AFL's Superkick program - and there are plenty of them.
The Belconnen Cats fielded four different teams - fittingly named the Cats, Cougars, Panthers and Jaguars - in Holt on Saturday. The Belconnen Magpies had three of their own. Five wore Ainslie's tricolour uniform, while two Gungahlin Jets teams rounded out the northside contingent.
Had you gone south to Hughes, you would have found five from the Weston Creek Wildcats, three from Tuggeranong Valley, three from the Queanbeyan Tigers and another from Eastlake.
The ACT and NSW led the national tally in total NAB AFL Superkick participants last year, with more kids aged seven to 12 taking part in the program than anywhere else in Australia.
A number of community clubs recorded a 250 per cent increase year-on-year in AFL Auskick and AFL Superkick participation - and as of May 2026, NSW and the ACT has recorded a 14 per cent increase in AFL participation since the same time last year.
Weekly sessions allow participants to focus on developing skills before putting them into action with modified match play in a non-contact program.
Maybe there's a few future stars among them, but the thing that shines brighter than the stars? The smiles.
